Friday, December 19, 2008

Today we honor Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel, 1904-1991) for his brilliant book How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Though his contributions to capitalism are many, today we celebrate How the Grinch Stole Christmas. This is a prime example about how intellectual property brought about great wealth.

Seuss grew up in the North East. His family is of German decent and owned breweries. They struggled through prohibition. There are many interesting tales about how he came up with his creations, including the story that inspiration for his pacing came from a steamboat engine's cadence.

Originally published in 1957, Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas has been adapted to many forms, including a TV film and feature film. I have found no aggregation of total profits made as a result of this wonderful story. According to box office reports, the most recent remake made more than $130M worldwide since its release.

Today we honor Dr. Seuss for taking his intellectual property concerning a story about a Grinch and turning it into wealth for so many.